Immonen wins third straight Predator stop; Santiago goes undefeated in Amateur event

The only difference this time was his finals opponent. Mika Immonen went undefeated through an Open field of 16 entrants to capture his third straight Predator Tour stop. In the finals of the $500-added, Sunday, March 24 Open event, the Iceman faced Jeremy Sossei, instead of Tony Robles, who'd squared off against him in the last two Predator Open events. In the concurrently-run, $500-added A-D handicapped event, Billy Santiago went undefeated through a strong and large field of 92. Both events were hosted by Steinway Billiards in Manhattan, NY.

For the first time in their most recent three meetings, Immonen and Robles squared off in the hot seat match. Immonen had sent Sossei west 7-4, as Robles was busy with Zion Zvi, sending him over 7-2. Immonen took the hot seat match 7-3 and all things considered was probably expecting the return of Robles, not, as it turned out, Sossei.

Sossei moved over to pick up Dinko Busanich, who'd survived a double hill match against John McArthur and defeated Mike Esposito 7-2. Zvi picked up Keith Adamik, who'd defeated Vikram Dasari 7-2 and survived a double hill battle versus Alex Osipov. Adamik ended Zvi's day 7-4, and in the quarterfinals, matched up against Sossei, who'd downed Busanich 7-5.

Sossei took the quarterfinal match against Adamik 7-3 and spoiled Robles' bid for a third straight appearance in the finals with a 7-1 win over him in the semifinals. Immonen completed his third straight undefeated run on the Predator Tour's Open competition with a double hill win over Sossei in the finals.

In the Amateur event, Santiago and Chan met twice; first in the hot seat, once Santiago had sent Jimmy Rivera west 7-3, and Chan had downed Bogie Uzdejczyk 7-4. Santiago took the first of two against Chan 7-3 and waited in the hot seat for him to get back.

Uzdejczyk and Rivera moved over to the loss side and were immediately eliminated; Uzdejczyk 7-4 by Ray Lee, who'd defeated Alison Fisher and Zee Shansofoar, both 7-3, and Rivera 7-2 by Mike Panzarella, who'd gotten by Roberto Mendoza 7-4 and survived a double hill match against Victor Nau. Panzarella took the quarterfinals 8-3 over Lee, but was downed 8-4 in the semifinals by Chan. Santiago survived the finals re-match to complete his undefeated run through the field and claim the Amateur title.

OPEN

1st Mika Immonen $650

2nd Jeremy Sossei $450

3rd Tony Robles $200

AMATEUR

1st Billy Santiago $1,300

2nd Nicholas Chan $1,000

3rd Mike Panzarella $600

4th Ray Lee $400

5th Bogie Uzdejczyk $250

Jimmy Rivera

7th Zee Shansofoar $200